Stabilized support for instruments.



JOHN GARDNER, or'xn'o'r'r END, ENGLAND.

STABILIZED SUPPORT FOR INSTRUMENTS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 14, 1917.

Application filed December 18, 1915. Serial No. 67,566.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN GARDNER, a subject of the King of Great Britain and Ira land, and a resident of Knott End, in the county of Lancaster, England, have invented c'ertain new and useful Improvements in Stabilized Supports for Instruments, .of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to gyroscopically stabilized apparatus for supporting telescopes, searchlights, range-finders, cameras and the like instruments, hereinafter, where the context admits, referred to as a telescope, on an unstable platform, such as the deck of a vessel, in such a manner that the instrument is little or not at all afiected by the movements of the platform, and the objects of my invention are to provide upon or in connection with the stand carrying the telescope a support for the observer or operator, hereinafter called the observer, so that he will also have the'advantage of being little if at all affected by the unstable platforms movements and will from his position upon the support be able to rotate the support around a central axis to any degree desired or remain stationary without disturbing its equilibrium; further, with thisv end inview, to improve the bearing and supporting pillar to more effectuallyv free the same from all interfering movements of the unstable platform and to provide means for the absorption of vertical vibrations which would interfere with the free working of the improved apparatus.

In carrymg this invention into effect I provide a stand with a ball or rounded point bearing working in a cup fixed at the top of a-vertical supporting pillar. The ball or rounded point bearin is of smaller diameter than the cup an is in rolling contact therewith to insure a minimum of sliding contact. The support is so formed that the observer is accommodated on that part which is on one side of the central bearing,- andthe steadying means andits support are:

on the other side of the bearing, in equilibrium with the observer. The steadying means is a gyrostat which may be so mounted and have such accessories that the observer, from his place on the stand, can topple the gyrostat, which rotates ona horizontal axis, in order to cause precession in said gyrostat and consequent precession in the support with the observer mounted thereon.

, order to damp vertical vibrations WlllOll might lnterfere with the effective operation of the apparatus for the purpose ino dicated, I may form the central supporting plllar in two parts with resilient means between the; two parts for the purpose of damping such vertical vibrations; and to insure the safety of the observer while using the apparatus in warfare I may combine reflectors, as hereinafter described, with the improved apparatus.

I will now describe my invention, in a preferred form, as applied upon the deck of a vessel, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:-

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the improved support, with its supporting central pillar partly in section;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of an apparatus similar to that shown in Fig. 1, but-having combined therewith reflectors to convey the image to the object glass of the telescope whenthe latter is not in the direct line of sight, and, 4

Fig. 3 shows in section a modified form of central and'2. I

Referring to the drawings, A is a central pillar for'the telescope support, having a base a bolted to the deck of the vessel or other'convenient part, and bearing at its upper end a cup and rounded point bearing B to give rolling contact and insure a minimum of sliding contact. C O is thebody" pillar for the apparatus of Figs. I

of the support, the part C being formed as aninclined rest for the body and arms of the observer. On the outer end of the part C is fitted an electro-motor D to the shaft of which is directly secured the gyrostat wheel E. a

The electro-motor frame is provided with trunnions F fitted in-a bearing formed in the outer end of the part 0 to enable it to be moved to tilt or topple its attached gyrostat wheel. On the end of one of the trunnions ,F is fitted atoothed quadrant G, gearing with a worm H, attached to a shaft supported in bearings K on the part C and which shaft is provided, at the other end to that carrying the worm, with the "hand wheel L.

upon the foot-boardd and'his arms on the upper horizontal part of the rest or support.

zthe apparatus to enable him to direct the telescope on another point of the horizon, to

v the left, he rotates the hand wheel L clockf wise, thus tilting, through the worm H and quadrant G, the electro-motor frame D and consequently the gyrostat wheel and the structure to which it is attached, and the whole structure is moved around its vertical axis on the bearing B. When he has reached the point on the horizon which he wishes to examine, the observer ceases to tilt the gyrostat wheel; precession of the structure is .then suspended, the telescope continues pointed in the new direction, and the oscillati on damping influence of the gyrostat continues. To turn to the right, the hand wheel is rotated in a counter-clockwise di-= rection, so that the tilting and the precession of the gyrostat wheel and of the structure will be the reverse to that just described.

Although other means may be employed for tilting or toppling the gyrostat wheel, I prefer that form shown in the drawings, as by the use of a toothed quadrant or equivalent, gearing with a worm, the gyrostat wheel is locked at any given moment, whether it is being-inclined or not, and so steadies the platform. Also, although any form of bearing may be used for the structure which will allow of free relative movement in any direction between the structure and its supporting pillar A, and will allow of the rotation of the upper structure around its vertical axis, I prefer the form shown in the drawings, as this is the one which gives the most complete freedom from interference by all motions of the vessel. The cup portion may be filled with lubricant.

Where it is not desired that the structure carrying the observer and telescope should turn on its vertical axis, but should be only arranged so that the oscillations imparted by the motion of the ship should be damped, the gearing for tilting the gyrostat wheel may dispensed with, and the latter be fixed, with its motor, direct to the outer end of the part C in any usual manner.

In Fig. 1 the central pillar A is shown as being rigid. It is however sometimes found desirable to damp the oscillations communicated to the apparatus through the vertical vibrations of the deck to which the pillar is attached. To deaden or completely earner nullify these vibrations I may form the pillar A in two parts A A as shown in Fig. 3, where A is the fixed part, and A as upper part adapted to slide upon A Between the two parts there is interposed the spring N. Any vertical vibrations com municated .by the deck are taken up and absorbei by the spring N, the upper sliding art 2 8f the gyroscope wheel E. Or lnstead of a spring, other means for absorbing vibrations, as for instance a pneumatic buffer, may be used.

In Fig. 2 is shown an arrangement whlch may bebrought into use where it is desired that the observer and the support should not be visible from or in the direct line of sight with the parts which he may be examining through his glass. In this arrangement, P is a vertical extension fixed upon the support, and hearing at its upper. end the reflector Q. Another reflector R 1s placed on a horizontal extenslon vformed upon the support C. The image is transmitted to the object glass of the telescope by the reflectors Q and It as shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 2. One or both of the reflectors may be adjustable as for instance by being pivoted in suitable bearings, so that their angles of reflection may be varied. The support G C may be of other forms than that shown in the drawings. For instance, the rest 0 may be replaced by a chair for the observer, and the necessary modifications made in the shape of the support for this purpose and for easy use of the telescope and manipulation of the toppling gear by the observer, without altering'the essential features of the support or departing from the spirit of my inventlon. I make no claim, however, to these other forms per se. 7

Instead of one, two or more observers may be accommodated upon the support,

-.and the latter may be wide enough and otherwise arranged for that purpose.

being under the steadying influence The center of gravity of the support may 7 be a little below the bearing D, and to adjust the weight evenly around the said hearing any convenient or desirable counter- Weights may bedisposed upon the support in any convenient manner.

The improved support is particularly useful for the purpose of supporting a kinema camera taking moving pictures from the deck of a ship. In present practice the camera moves with the deck of the ship whereon it is placed with the result that as there is no relative movement between the deck and the camera, in the resultant photograph the ship appears to be stationary and the" horizon and other objects outside, the ship apparently have movement which they have not in reality. But it is not desirable to obtain this result always and in pictures taken from the improved support on a ships deck the actual movements of the waves and the exact degree of pitching and tossing of any ships which come within the picture are faithfully reproduced, the horizon line and plane of the sea remaining steady while at the same time theoperator taking the pictures can' move himself and the camera angularly, quickly or slowly and to any degree desired, without trouble or changing his position on the support. The fact that the operator and the camera are both on the support which has its undesired movements damped, and move absolutely together, has

the result also that the pictures obtained are' more even and regular than is now the case wlth moving pictures taken at sea.

What I claim is 1. A gyroscopically stabilizedsupport for a telescope and an observer comprising a central pillar, a cup bearing attached to said pillar, a movable support having a single rounded point bearing working in the cup bearing and in rolling contact with theinner face thereof, a gyrostat fixed on one side of the movable support, means for rotating the gyrostat, and means for toppling said gyrostat thus giving to same and the attached support and consequently to an observer mounted thereon any desired degree of movement in azimuth, substantially as described.

3. A gyroscopically stabilized support for a telescope and an observer comprising a central pillar formed in two parts slidable in relation to one another to absorb vertical vibrations, a cup bearing attached to said pillar, a movable support having a single rounded point bearing working in the cup bearing and in rolling contact with the inner face thereof a gyrostat fixed on one side of the movable support, means for rotating the gyrostat, and an inclined support for the body of the observer on the other side of the single bearing to that on which the gyrostat is fixed, substantially as described.

4. A gyroscopically stabilized support for a telescope and an observer comprisingba central pillar formed in two parts slida le in relation to one another to absorb vertical vibrations, a cup bearing attached to said pillar, a movable support having a single rounded point bearing working in the cup bearing and in rolling contact with the inner face thereof, a gyrostat fixed on one side of the movable support, means for rotating the gyrostat, and means for toppling said gyrostat thus giving to same and the attached-support and consequently to an observer mounted thereon any .desired degree of movement in azimuth, substantially as de-- scribed. I

5. In a gyroscopically stabilized support for a telescope and an observer, means for toppling the stabilizing gyrostat to cause precession therein and consequent precession of the support in azimuth, comprising a toothed quadrant connected with the gyrostat, a worm gearing with the teeth of said quadrant, and a handle within easy access of the observer mounted on the support and adapted to rotate the said worm and So top ple the gyrostat and cause precession therein, with consequent precesslon of the sup-- port in any desired degree of arc in azimuth, substantially as described.

6. 'In combination, a supporting structure for an instrument and its operator, a one point suspension for said structure, and a stabilizing gyrostat carried by said structure.

7. In combination, a supporting structure for an instrument and its operator, a onepoint suspension for said supporting structure, a stabilizing gyrostat mounted on said structure and adapted to be tilted, and means under the control of the operator. for tilting the gyrostat.

In wltness whereof I have hereunto set my hand. JOHN GARDNER. 

